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World War II, also known as the Second World War, was a global armed conflict that lasted from 1939 to 1945. With an estimated total of 70—85 million people dead, it's considered the deadliest military conflict in history.
Class character of the war
The character of the war is subject to some contention due to the factor of the socialist Soviet Union as a participant, unlike the First World War which was characterised as an imperialist war for the redivision of the world among the 'great powers' where capitalism had reached its monopoly stage. During the period from the invasion of Poland in September 1939 to the invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941, the Comintern designated the war as a second imperialist war and did not co-operate with their respective bourgeois governments and then seemingly reversed their position, something which they are highly maligned for. British Communist Rajani Palme Dutt clarified that the entry of the Soviet Union only augmented the 'anti-fascist, liberating character' of the war. The fascist menace had threatened to take away all bourgeois-democratic privileges - this constituted another all important factor in the war. The war consisted of a reactionary phase when the ruling classes in the relatively non-aggressive countries appeased fascism and did not co-operate with the Soviet quest for collective security and then the phase of the united struggle of the peoples against fascism when the Great Alliance was formed in 1941.[1]